Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Shares Purchased by Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 64,991 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $8,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 303,069 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,348,000 after purchasing an additional 15,875 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $3,734,000. Kampmann Melissa S. purchased a new stake in Blackstone in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,314,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Blackstone by 1,722.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 504,441 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,046,000 after purchasing an additional 476,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 536.5% in the 4th quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,181 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,726,000 after buying an additional 11,110 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider John G. Finley sold 49,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.93, for a total value of $6,268,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 393,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,294,783.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Bx Buzz Ml-1 Gp Llc sold 2,509,316 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.10, for a total transaction of $27,853,407.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $142,102.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,587,168 shares of company stock valued at $37,816,476. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Blackstone from $150.00 to $146.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Blackstone from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup lowered shares of Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $124.00 in a report on Friday, January 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Blackstone from $127.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackstone has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.65.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of BX traded down $1.67 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $118.95. 1,193,825 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,638,354. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $118.68. Blackstone Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.92 and a 12-month high of $133.56. The company has a market cap of $85.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The asset manager reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.98. Blackstone had a return on equity of 17.33% and a net margin of 20.84%. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 166.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Blackstone’s payout ratio is 117.31%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.